Josh Mack blogging at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts, and occasionally on; bicycles, politics, Brooklyn, parenting, crafts, and good reading. Currently helping to build a new NYC neighborhood news site - nearsay.com, that celebrates the voices that make our city. Subscribe to the daily newsletter it gives you what you need to know.

October 31, 2008

This being Halloween it is pretty important to be on guard for strange happenings and creatures. Sure you can learn a lot from watching all of the episodes of Buffy, back-to-back as friends of our have, but that can only take you so far as the cast of characters is always the same over a hell-mouth. Demons lurk everywhere. You might encounter; a Tommy-Knocker or a Windigo while hiking, a Kelpie near the shore, Kitchen Faeries making a mess in your house, or even your Id causing trouble enough harm drive you to therapy. A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels and Other Subversive Spirits arms you with information to identify, and defeat them all.

October 29, 2008

My father, Peter Mack, sends a newsletter to his clients called Note From The Front: In the Great Battle for Investment Victory. His latest called Restoring Trust about the causes and stages of the financial crisis is a great read.

The NYT CityRoom blog had a post about popular NY baby names last week. The article was helped by Laura Wattenberg, author of the Baby Name Wizard and the site BabyNameWizard.com. Last week the site launched two great new tools to complement the awesome Name Voyager -which shows you a name's popularity over time. The new tools; Name Mapper - which shows a name's popularity over time stat by state, and Namipedia - which is a wikilike encyclopedia of name meanings and associated facts. Amazing to see how in recent years Joshua was #1 in Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, W. VA etc. Obviously no longer just a Jewish name.

October 24, 2008

The NYT endorsed Obama today. They also put up an interesting time-line of all of their endorsements. Of the 37 prior elections they chose the winner 21 times, a 57% percent record. Surprising to me they didn't endorse TDR of FDR (in his 1st term). They have endorsed 12 Republicans. Six of them from 1860 through 1884 Lincoln (2 terms), Grant, Hayes (2 terms), Garfield. and then Wendell Wilkie. And again in the 40's and early 50's with Wilkie, Dewey and Eisenhower. The time-line also links to .pdfs of the endorsements.

We've been listening to a John Lithgow children's CD in our house lately and the words from Pick Myself Up, are inspiring. We are also listening to a lot of Dan Zanes and his depression era songs are also heartening but those for another post.

"Nothing's impossible I have found,For when my chin is on the ground,I pick myself up,Dust myself off,Start All over again.

Don't lose your confidence if you slip,Be grateful for a pleasant trip,And pick yourself up,Dust yourself off,Start all over again.

Work like a soul inspired,Till the battle of the day is won.You may be sick and tired,But you'll be a man, my son!

Will you remember the famous men,Who had to fall to rise again?So take a deep breath,Pick yourself up,Dust yourself off,Start all over again.